


May I Have This Dance?

by PrincessLaLa



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, Kind of stream of thought from Makoto’s point of view, Makoto basically catches the gay feelings, Masquerade Ball, school cultural festival, waltz dancing of various degrees of skill level
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-21
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-08-16 12:26:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8102341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrincessLaLa/pseuds/PrincessLaLa
Summary: In which Syujin High hosts a masquerade ball, Haru asks Makoto to dance, and Makoto realizes she may be gayer than she had initially thought.





	

**Author's Note:**

> If you like to read with music playing in the background I suggest you keeping this playing in the background (It's what I listened to while writing this): 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0HiSPeDh1bU-jFx2RrsmQlDNihqsuUIe

Makoto Nijima was no stranger to stress. That was a fact. As student council president she had to juggle a whole new set of responsibilities along with her studies as well as her out-of-school life. Being the president of the student council meant that she had to oversee some of Syujin High’s biggest events, the culture festival being one of the biggest ones as it not only brought in attendance from its student body, but also guests from outside the school that students could invite. As such, Makoto found herself on the final day of the culture festival overseeing the last of the booths and events (a highlight she still remembered how the previous day she ended up getting roped into attending a student-run maid café with Akira and the others) and helping to prepare for the big finale.

The finale of the culture festival this year was an enormous formal masquerade ball and throughout the weekend it was virtually all the students could seem to talk about, from what to wear, to who to bring, and even to what they were going to do after.

It had been a humongous collaborative effort between all the third-year classes as well as the school band and orchestra, but all the work had paid off. The whole gym had been entirely redecorated with a big tent set up in the middle that occupied virtually all of the gym’s floor space, with twinkling white fairy lights strung up all along the tent walls and rafters, lace-and-satin curtains were hung on all the walls, and even a small, but fancy chandelier hung from the center point of the tent with the orchestra placed on a raised platform up near the front where everyone could see them. It definitely made for an elegant atmosphere and Makoto was pleased with how well everything turned out, but she also didn’t want to think about how much this could have cost the student council budget, at least not yet. She made a mental note to talk to the treasurer about this later after the cultural festival was over. For now, she was just focused on making sure her classmates and friends were having a good time, all of them having arrived together as a group but were at the moment doing their own things.

“I don’t see why we gotta wear different masks considering we already wear masks like ALL THE TIME.” She heard Ryuji grumble as he fiddled with his gold-and-beige monkey mask. With his suit on, Ryuji definitely cleaned up nicely although it was also a slightly jarring contrast to his usual graphic tees and rolled pants look.

“Yeah right, and blow our cover because people would recognize us with our usual masks on? No thank you.” Makoto heard Ann retort as she re-tied her ornate red-and-gold cat mask back onto her face and pulled up the bodice on her red ruffled chiffon dress. “Besides,” she continued, “Your usual mask makes you look like a thug.” With that she walked off into the crowd.

“Hey! I take offense to that you know!” Ryuji replied, chasing after her.

Makoto sighed and shook her head before looking off to the side where Futaba, Morgana and Yuki were sitting. Futaba, wearing a simple black-and-green dress with an equally simple matching mask (which was a definite change from her usual choice of grotesque or comical-looking masks), was sitting cross-legged on a chair and tapping away at her phone, no doubt playing a phone game or going onto an online forum. Makoto was glad that even though Futaba wasn’t dancing she decided to join the rest of the group to attend the event. Morgana had their head sticking out of Akira’s bag that was on the seat next to Futaba, just calmly observing their surroundings while Yuki sat at the edge of his seat just looking out into the sea of people dancing, nervously tapping his knees with his fingers as he did.

So all in all, things were going well. So well, in fact, that she was worried something would happen. She smoothed her hands down on the front of her body-hugging midnight blue gown. She didn’t have much time to think much about what else could go wrong however, as she felt someone tap her shoulder.

“You seem stressed.” Makoto heard a voice behind her say. She turned to see Haru, wearing a poofy, elegant deep-purple chiffon-and-lace gown, purple elbow-length opera gloves, and a matching purple mask with silver filigree and diamonds studded in it. Her elegant appearance instantly reminded Makoto of a princess from a fairytale, not that she was going to outright say it.

“Was it that obvious?” Makoto responded, touching her silver filigree lace mask to make sure it was still in place.

Haru smirked. “You get all tense and you kind of clench your jaw a lot when you’re stressed, I don’t know if you notice it but I do.”

Makoto sighed. “You can really be perceptive, Haru.” She commented.

Makoto heard the orchestra shuffle as they readied their instruments and soon the first few notes of the next song filled the air. It sounded upbeat but also soft and romantic; Makoto instantly recognized it as the theme to “Howl’s Moving Castle”, having watched that movie often when she was a child. She smiled to herself as the nostalgia hit her.

As if she was noticing Makoto’s hidden joy, Haru smiled widely and quickly readjusted her mask and cleared her throat as if to make a request. Makoto tilted her head in inquiry.

“If it’s not of much trouble to you,” Haru began as she bowed low and extended her hand towards Makoto, letting a bit of her personality from the Other Side show through. “May I have this dance?”

Makoto stifled a giggle at Haru’s boldness. “When you ask me like that, I can’t just say no.” She said, taking her friend’s hand and letting her lead her onto the ballroom floor. One dance couldn’t possibly hurt.

Once out on the dancefloor, Haru turned towards Makoto and put her hand on Makoto’s waist and held her other hand. Makoto put her hand on Haru’s shoulder, suddenly aware of how close the two were standing from each other. She felt her heart beat faster than she would have expected in this situation as Haru led her in time to the music, occasionally leading her into under-arm spins or outward turns.

“Nice dress, by the way.” Makoto commented, trying to make conversation as soon as they fell into the rhythm. “It really suits you.”

Haru’s face flushed a light but very noticeable shade of pink in response. “Th-thank you!” She said. “Your dress fits amazingly for you too!”

Makoto felt her cheeks start to heat up as she just gripped her hand on Haru’s shoulder tighter. This was definitely not what she had expected to happen when she accepted Haru’s proposal to dance. Everything around her seemed to pass in a blur of colors and twirling dancing couples but all she could really focus on was all the things she didn’t seem to notice or pay much attention to about Haru before, like how her copper-colored hair was so curly it looked like a fluffy little ram’s wool, or how the warm brown eyes staring into her own red ones looked so big and happy (almost like shining amber, she mused), or how her perfume smelled faintly like sweet roses, something that was very fitting for her. She was quite pretty, very well deserving of that nickname Morgana gave her back in the Palace. Makoto wondered how she never noticed any of that but now here she was admiring Haru’s beauty. At this point she could feel her heart almost pounding in her chest.

Makoto only pulled herself out of her reverie after realizing some time had passed since she spoke.

“You dance amazingly well.” She said, fighting her blush and trying to break the awkward silence.

“Really? I’m glad you think so Makoto. I normally don’t think I’m the best dancer around or anything. I only took a class a couple years ago as part of my heiress training.” Haru replied nonchalantly, smiling warmly and leading Makoto into a turn.

“Even if you think so, we’re still definitely doing better than Akira and Yusuke.” Makoto replied, looking over to where Yusuke and Akira were dancing, if dancing could even be the right word to call what they were doing. A more apt description was that they looked like they were TRYING to dance, but ultimately failing miserably at it, with Yusuke trying to lead Akira in time to the waltz step but always ending up letting his gangly limbs get the better of him and tripping over or stepping on the brunet’s toes right whenever he seemed like he was getting the hang of the rhythm. With a half-faced Kitsune mask on instead of his usual full-faced mask, one could tell that Yusuke was definitely embarrassed at his inept dancing abilities as well as a little flustered by the close, romantic atmosphere he and his boyfriend were sharing, all the while Akira kept a patient gaze through his swirly-patterned black-and-white eye mask and reassuringly squeezed Yusuke’s arm from time to time.

Haru followed Makoto’s gaze and let out a small laugh. “Oh my goodness! That’s so funny but it’s also so embarrassing.” She exclaimed, finding much amusement in the situation. “It looks like after this I’ll need to teach Yusuke how to dance; otherwise Akira’s feet are going to be mush by the end of the night.”

Makoto chuckled. “Yusuke is really going to need all the help he can get.” She quipped. “But I’m sure you’re just the right person for the job.” Her comment was greeted with Haru’s face blushing a deep shade of pink.

They continued dancing for this for the rest of the song, trading banter while Haru skillfully guided Makoto through the series of spins and twirls in time to the music, at one point even going so far as to pick Makoto up and twirl her around, which prompted a surprised yelp from the brunette while Haru giggled at the loud-but-cute reaction while the entire time Makoto felt almost enchanted by how well the pretty girl holding her could dance.

As the song neared its end, Makoto felt reluctant to let go of Haru. She had no idea what to make of her feelings, but she certainly hadn’t expected to feel this way in such a short five minutes, and she definitely wanted this moment to last longer. When the song played its final notes, Haru slowed to a stop, staring into Makoto’s eyes. Makoto once more could feel the beginnings of the blush she had tried so hard to keep down as she noticed just how close Haru’s face was to hers, so close in fact that she could see how soft her lips looked. If she could just lean in…

Feeling her sudden shyness get the most of her, Makoto pulled away and looked elsewhere. Choosing to see what Akira and Yusuke were doing, she turned her attention toward them just in time to see Akira tilt his head up to give Yusuke a kiss, causing the blue-haired boy’s face to turn a deep red at the public display of affection. Off to the side, she noticed Ann and Ryuji with their arms linked making their way over to Futaba and Yuki, where they unlinked their arms and started talking to them, with Ann eventually taking Futaba by the hand and leading her to the dancefloor and Ryuji doing the same for Yuki.

As Makoto heard the next song start up (A cheerful and upbeat waltz she could have sworn she had heard once in one of Futaba’s videogames that she had convinced her to watch her play), she looked back at the auburn-haired girl.

“Well, ummm, I’ll hope to dance with you again later Makoto!” Haru chirped, smiling brightly and giving a little wave. And with that she turned around. “Akira, Yusuke! Wait up!” Haru called, swiftly making her way over to the boys, no doubt to ask Yusuke to dance so she could make good on her offer to teach him.

Makoto cracked a small smile and blushed a deep red at the girl’s kindness (and not to mention her cuteness) as she watched Haru leave, before swiftly making her way over to the punch bowl. After all this unexpected excitement she was definitely going to need a drink to cool down.

**Author's Note:**

> First time actually writing fanfic in like two years whaddup. I’ve fallen into P5 hell recently and even though I won’t be able to play the game until its February release date I am so in love with this fandom and all its characters. I just hope I’m doing them justice especially since my knowledge of them is only going off of the trailers Atus gave us as well as the smallest bits and pieces of livestreams I’ve seen since I’m trying to stay relatively unspoiled about the game as much as I reasonably can. If I find out later this is OOC though I’ll definitely rewrite it.
> 
> Side note I actually got part of this fic inspiration from the time I attended a masquerade ball at an anime convention this summer dressed in Haru’s thief outfit (And a friend even commented how it was great how I already had a mask lol) but I couldn’t shake the thought about the Phantom Thieves going to a masquerade ball ever since and also I learned I really like Okujima (Makoharu 2.0? QueenNoir?? What are they called?) and Shukita so much so if you want to talk to me about p5 or ships or headcanons feel free to do it over on my tumblr @tearsofahime!
> 
> EDIT:  
> I've been trying so hard to post hyperlinks to everyone's masks and outfits and AO3 won't let me and let me tell you that's kind of disappointing because i had a lot of fun looking up outfits and masks for everyone.


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